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By Marni Rose McFall
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Notorious fraudster Anna Delvey is back in the spotlight this week after an assistant on one of her photoshoots admitted to abandoning rabbits in a New York park — the bizarre end to an unusual chain of events.
Newsweek has emailed Delvey outside of regular working hours for comment.
Why It Matters
Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, first made headlines back in October 2017, when she was arrested for pretending to be a German heiress to deceive hotels, banks and individuals out of over $200,000. In 2019, she was found guilty of eight theft-related charges.
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She was released from prison in 2021 but was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her visa. She was released from ICE in 2022 and is currently under house arrest. Her story was the subject of the Netflix miniseries Inventing Anna, in 2022.
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What To Know
The case of the abandoned rabbits began with a post on a local Facebook group about a bunny dumped in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, according to Terry Chao, a vegan blogger who documented the drama on her Instagram account. Chao and others saved the cotton-tailed hopper on Monday, and named it Parker.
Three days later, Chao said, a second rabbit was seen in the park and also rescued. This rabbit was christened Moon.
It was a mystery as to how the two long-eared lagomorphs ended up in Prospect Park. Then, the Anna Delvey photos appeared.
The scammer-turned-social-media-star posted a series of images to her Instagram profile posing with two rabbits on leashes. A video of her and the tethered carrot munchers was also uploaded.
Chao said she was notified on Saturday about the shoot but initially did not know that the bunnies she had saved in the park were the same animals in Delvey's photoshoot. However, she soon realized they were, and in a strange twist of fate, revealed she had been contacted by the photographer's assistant, Christian Batty, about using her own pet for the shoot.
"I saw the person tagged in the insta post, oh, it was the same person who tried to scout my bunny!" Chao wrote. "That's weird, I thought. Wait, the bunny Anna is holding and trancing (a type of hold on the bunny's back that puts it into a fear state) is strikingly similar to Parker."
Instagram users began accusing Delvey and her team of abandoning the rabbits, which they denied. In one reply, Delvey wrote: "I will find and sue dimwits like yourself who simply refuse to accept that the bunnies that were borrowed for our shoot are safe at home with their owners."
Batty wrote in response to another commenter: "It isn't the same bunny, as that bunny is located in Yonkers. And as you said you found 4 bunnies in prospect park, we only had 2. One so happens to look like one of the ones you found in the park and now it's Anna's fault? It sounds like someone trying to find an easy solution to a problem bigger than a photoshoot with rabbits that were ethically sourced!"
Batty eventually though, came clean. In a post shared by Delvey on Instagram Stories the assistant wrote: "I lied to Anna, and the rest of Anna's team about the rabbits."
"When I realized the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked. At 19, with no experience caring for animals, no pet-friendly housing, and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice. Believing mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them there, thinking that was my best option. That belief was wrong, and I regret it deeply."
Newsweek contacted Batty for comment via direct message on Facebook, and also on Instagram, but that account later appeared to be deactivated.
Delvey later posted another Instagram story explaining that Batty was someone on the photoshoot's "hair team" she had "briefly met during a fashion week event last year," who told her "he knew someone who could lend us bunnies for a few hours."
The Russian-born con artist suggested Batty's plan all along—of which she had no knowledge and only later discovered—was to dump the rabbits.
"The idea that someone would compromise the well-being of innocent animals for personal networking opportunities is deeply disturbing to me," she wrote to her 1.1 million followers.
Delvey said she had donated $1,000 to All About Rabbits Rescue, a New York-based nonprofit focused on the animals' welfare.
Chao said on Instagram that Batty "did physically show up to help me successfully catch" a third rabbit that appears not to have been used in the final photoshoot.
Newsweek emailed Chao for further comment outside of regular working hours.
What People Are Saying
Terry Chao, on Instagram, wrote: "I hope this entire episode has helped in spreading awareness that you CANNOT DUMP YOUR PETS in the park. Owning a pet is a PRIVILEGE not a right."
Anna Delvey wrote on Instagram: "I do not eat meat, and I had no involvement in the acquisition, transport, or return of these animals. I would never condone these actions. I will gladly do whatever I can to ensure these rabbits are rehomed safely."
A spokesperson for PETA, said in an email shared with Newsweek: "PETA urges everyone to remember that animals aren't disposable props. Rabbits, in particular, are 'prey' animals who become petrified when handled by strangers they perceive as predators, and if they don't freeze in terror, they might thrash and kick so frantically that they break their own spines.
"Domestic rabbits have little chance of survival outdoors. If the reports are true that the rabbits used for Anna Delvey's photoshoot were callously dumped in a city park afterward, those responsible put these animals in grave danger and violated New York state law prohibiting animal abandonment in the process."
What Happens Next
Chao shared in posts to social media that she is taking donations to help care for the bunnies, and looking for foster families for them.
Update, 8/12/2025, 4:48 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.
Update 8/13/2025, 3:37 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comment from a PETA spokesperson.
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